Meg Hamand has had a heart for storytelling since her first poem was published in an anthology in elementary school. Since then, she graduated with a degree in English and creative writing from Indiana State University. She’s been published in multiple print and online publications and recognized as Michiana 40 Under 40 by South Bend Chamber of Commerce. She lives in Northern Indiana with her high school sweetheart, daughter, and miniature Dachshund, Nixon (named after Captain Nixon from Band of Brothers, not after the president).

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ALTERATIONS by Kate Maruyama (Running Wild Press; March 2025) is an absorbing Hollywood history and compelling love story forged with a rich literary family drama. Its characters allow the past and present to intertwine, highlighting how family, whether we like it or not, makes up who we are. Maruyama is best known as a horror writer, but this new novel is inspired by Maruyama’s aunt and her New England Boston marriage as well as her time spent living and working in Los Angeles. As Matt Tyrnauer, director of Victoria’s Secret: Angels & Demons and Scotty and the Secret History of Hollywood, raves Kate Maruyama invents a magical refracted Hollywood history and a lusty, coded story of forbidden love in Lotusland.”

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CLAUDIA ROWE has been writing about the hallways where kids and government clash for more than 30 years. A native of New York City now living in Seattle, her reporting on racially skewed school discipline for The Seattle Times helped to change education laws in Washington State and her coverage of Latino youth gangs was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize. Rowe has also written for The New York Times, Mother Jones, and Amazon Original Stories. In 2018 she received the Washington State Book Award for her true crime memoir The Spider and the Fly (Dey Street). She is a member of the editorial board at The Seattle Times, where she writes about foster care, juvenile justice, and public education.

Grab a copy of Wards of the State: The Long Shadow of American Foster Care

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